Bluesky Gains Users Amid Departure from X, Commits to Not Using User Content for AI Training

Bluesky, a social network, is seeing a big boost in users this week. Many people are leaving X, formerly known as Twitter. In light of this, Bluesky has made a clear statement: they have “no intention” of using user content to train generative AI tools.

This announcement came on the same day that X updated its terms of service. Those new terms allow X to use public posts for AI training.

Bluesky addressed this directly. They mentioned, “A number of artists and creators have made their home on Bluesky, and we hear their concerns with other platforms training on their data.” They reassured users by saying, “We do not use any of your content to train generative AI, and have no intention of doing so.”

However, Bluesky does use AI for internal purposes. They help with content moderation and use AI in their “Discover” algorithmic feed. But they made it clear: “None of these are Gen AI systems trained on user content.”

On the other hand, X has a different approach. They’ve explained that when you post on their platform, you give them a license to “analyze text and other information you provide and to otherwise provide, promote, and improve the Services, including, for example, for use with and training of our machine learning and artificial intelligence models, whether generative or another type.”

Since the U.S. presidential election, Bluesky has seen a surge in users. This is especially true as X has taken on a more right-leaning stance, particularly after Elon Musk used the platform to support president-elect Donald Trump.

In fact, Bluesky reported that over 1 million people signed up in just the last 24 hours. As of now, they have 17.14 million users.

Despite this growth, it’s important to note that Meta’s Threads remains the largest competitor to X. Threads boasts over 275 million monthly active users and has gained 15 million new signups this month alone.